TORONTO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index fell
on Thursday to its lowest point this year as nagging concerns
about a drop in oil demand weighed on the resource heavy index
while influential banking shares also tumbled.

The financial sector, which accounts for about 33 percent
of the index, relinquished early gains and turned 1.6 percent
lower on news that Bank of America is close to getting billions
of dollars more in federal aid.

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO, the biggest drag on
the index, fell 2.3 percent to C$34.04, while Toronto-Dominion
Bank TD.TO shares dropped 1 percent to C$43.53.

"Bank of America needs government help for their Merrill
Lynch takeover so that puts all of the financials into question
... as well as some investments that banks have made here in
Canada," said Sal Masionis, a stockbroker at Brant Securities.

"But general sentiment has been a little disappointing. We
had the nice rally early in the year and it's all of a sudden
dying ... so it's not a very nice feeling out here."
Continued...